If you own a phone that is on contract with a carrier such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile, you may wonder if you’ll be eligible for an unlock once your contract ends.

Here’s your answer.

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Sprint committed to unlocking cell phones of customers once their contracts were paid off. The wireless carriers, starting from December last year, alleged to notify customers when their devices become eligible for an unlock, or automatically unlock their devices on a remote basis without charging any money.

Each of these carriers were also posting clear unlocking policy on their website. Carriers, upon customer request, will unlock wireless devices or provide the required information to customers to unlock devices and former customers who are in good standing. They will unlock devices no later than a year after the original activation, consistent with reasonable payment, time, or usage requirements.

Carriers locking devices clearly notify customers that their devices are eligible for unlocking or automatically provide a remote unlocking service without a fee. However, carriers have the right to charge non-customers or non-former customers a fee for unlocking. Notice to customers may be given at the time of eligibility, at the time of sale, or though the unlocking policy on the carrier’s website.

The response time is two days after a request has been received. The eligible devices will be unlocked by the wireless carrier and a request will be initiated to the OEM to unlock the eligible device, or provide an explanation why the device can’t be unlocked, or why the carrier needs for time for processing the request.

Also, carriers will unlock wireless devices for military personnel who are customers in good standing upon deployment papers. These personnel, just like consumers, will have access to clear unlocking policies on carrier website.

So your phone specifically not automatically unlocks once your contract ends; you have to check with your carrier whether your device is eligible for an unlock. If it isn’t, for some reason, you can always take the alternative route with an IMEI unlock solution. The alternative mention here, however, will also check if your device is eligible for an unlock.

The unlock provider is also going to check whether your phone was activated, because these services usually don’t unlock blacklisted or blocked phones. Carriers also don’t unlock blacklisted or blocked phones. Know the state of your device before requesting an unlock from the carrier or service provider.